If a company handling containers for foods and beverages produces food poisoning due to insufficient sterilization of the containers, the company will significantly lose social credibility. Therefore, in advanced countries where safety of foods and beverages is essential, it is necessary to sterilize containers for foods and beverages securely.
Devices currently used for secure sterilization of containers apply an electron beam to the containers. Although such devices permit secure sterilization of the containers, application of an electron beam to the containers may produce X-rays, which are radioactive and harmful to organisms. Therefore, there has been provided a structure for the above devices in which the X-rays are sufficiently blocked such that the X-rays produced are prevented from being leaked harmfully (see Patent Literature 1). As shown in FIG. 6 of Patent Literature 1, the structure disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes a blocking member for blocking X-rays. The blocking member has a cylindrical shape and is mounted on a rotation table for conveying containers to a circular path. With this arrangement, the X-rays can be blocked sufficiently, as shown in FIG. 11 of Patent Literature 1.